Business Commons^™

Motives For Reading And Articulating User-Generated Restaurant Reviews On Yelp.Com, Anish Parikh, Carl Behnke, Mihaela Vorvoreanu, Barbara Almanza, Barbara Almanza

Department of Hospitality and Tourism Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine why and when restaurant consumers use and contribute user-generated reviews. This research is needed to determine the relevance of user-generated restaurant reviews in the current marketplace. Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology is based on a quantitative approach, and focused on current Yelp.com users as its population. Questions focused on the amount of usage, motives for usage, level of trust, users’ tendencies to seek novelty in restaurants and motives for contribution. Findings – Users tend to trust the reviews on Yelp.com and engage in the community aspects of the platform. Yelp.com …